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Parade Orders 

It is sometimes commented by the more idle lower ranks that parade drilling
serves no practical purpose. This is not the case; a guardsmen that can follow parade orders swiftly and accurately can be expected to follow battle orders similarly well, and it is the Yewish militia's ability to parade which solidifies our reputation as the most disciplined force in all Brittania. Therefore, it is your duty as a guardsman to hone your skill in acting in sync with others whilst drilling.

The most important thing to remember to do well is whatever you do, act on three. That means, when you hear an order, you count to three in your head (Something I hope you all to be able to do...) and act when you reach the third number. It's not that difficult, but seems to cause some people no end of trouble.

If you really distrust your sense of timing, yet believe yourself to have extremely quick reflexes, you may ready yourself to act and do so the instant the other men do. However, this is a novices technique, and clearly only a minority can do it without ruining the whole system.

Line up! - If you don't know this one by now, you're hopeless. However, some guardsmen forget that when lining up,
you should try to keep the leader central in relation to the line. Don't force them to move.

Parade, attention! - Stand as straight and tall as possible, arms at your sides and your heels together. You must stare directly forward,
not at your commander.

Parade, at ease.- You may relax your posture, feet shoulder width apart. This is no excuse to stand however you choose,
and you may certainly not move more than absolutely necessary.

Parade, saluting to the front, to the front salute! - In one smooth yet swift movement, raise your right arm to your chest at a right angle, hold it for a second,
and then drop it straight back to your side. The 'saluting to the front' section of the order is to prepare you
to perform this action, so no excuses for being off time. It may or may not be used along with any of these commands.

Parade, front/right/left/about face! - Turn to face the indicated direction, knees locked, only lifting your left foot to do so.

Parade, ready arms! - Lower your halberd so that is almost horizontal, blade down and facing ahead, and place your right leg forward in a battle-ready
stance.

Parade, hold arms! - Raise your halberd upwards to it's standard vertical position against your side, and step back with your right leg, returning to normal parade
stance.

Parade, column up! - Form two files wide, the rest behind them. The two 'file leaders' at the front should ideally be experienced
in parading. Columns have special rules concerning marching and turning...

Parade, by the right/left, forward march! (From column) - Whilst this may seem complicated on paper, practically it is very simple.
The respective file leader first takes a step forward, followed by the other file leader. Only once these two have
moved may the next rank step forward, which allows the file leaders to each take another step. The remaining ranks follow in suit,
only taking a pace when those in front have done so already to give them space.

Parade, turn left/right! (From column) - The respective file leader turns to face the direction and marches, whilst the other file leader takes one more step forward
before doing the same, the men behind following their file leader closely.

Parade, halt! (from column) - The two file leaders halt, the trailing file leader catching up to the leader so they are aside each other before he does so. The rest of the ranks must close all gaps before halting.

Double line! - Again, fairly self explanatory. If there are odd numbers, so that two full lines are not possible, the back line must suffer
one less man and yet not leave the formation untidy by missing said man at either end. Ideally, the empty space in the back line
will be one space inward from the right end.

Parade, sound off! - Starting from the left of the line by default and going rightwards, the guardsmen shout out their respective names after one another.

Parade, number off! - Same as sound off, except the first man shouts "one!" the next "two!" and so on for the whole line. This gives the commander the precise number of guardsmen on parade, if he happens to find counting into double digits challenging.

Parade, dismissed! - On parade, this is slightly more formal than standard dismissals. Guardsmen salute to the front, before turning to the left and dismissing from that end of the line. They do not run off in all directions like headless chickens.

"You have a fine unit there" - Lord Rothermere, Defence Minister to The King

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